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Re: pear mead

Originally Posted by squarepeg

that sounds like it would be really good. can you share your recipe?

I'll try to measure things. For now, as the plums become very ripe they'll be washed, pitted, and pressed into a freezer container, and frozen until sometime in October or November when I'll put everything together to slowly ferment. I'm a believer in slow fermentation.

Re: pear mead

71b-1122 would in my opinion be a better yeast for the fruit. Will not produce as high an alcohol level but will be good to drink much sooner, in months instead of over a year. Whats this adding sugar? Beekeepers add honey! They also get a hydrometer and produce mead instead of random batches of torpedo fuel! Try it you will like it! Go to library and read Schramm's The compleat meadmaker.
s

Re: pear mead

I am enjoying making mead and how I envy you the pear harvest! I just drove back home thru Washington fruit county and got a couple boxes of peaches and it occurs to me now that I could have got pears too! I always seem to find someone to drink the five gallon batches I make.

Re: pear mead

Is it refrigerated now or is it fermenting? If it is just setting out, something is going to grow in it! Or is this the batch that is already fermented? If so, the 71b may not be able to get started. Alcohol is poisonous to yeast and that is why this yeast stops at about 14% alcohol by volume. Does your pear juice if fermented still taste sweet? If so, make a starter that is half your pear juice and half water and put the new yeast in it and let it get started before putting it in your main container. That is what you could try, but you really need to do some reading!

Re: pear mead

thanks again vance. i have been doing some reading, but need to do more. the 71b and energizer did start the fermentation back, but it is a lot slower than it was at first. there was some undisolved sugar still in the batch. i have it in my garage, that is air conditioned at about 74 degrees. i have it in a food grade five gallon bucket with the cover on loosely. i think i need to rack it, and get the cork and tube to make it air tight.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: pear mead

ok, so i got my carboys, fermentation locks, hydrometer, yeast, energizer, and added honey. ended up with three 6 gallon carboys full from the pear juice, (did not add water), and they appear to be working well at this point.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: pear mead

Did you get a hydrometer and take a reading? What a harvest of juice! How much honey did you add per each and what yeast did you use. I can go to gotmead.com or you can and use the calculator to find out what your alcohol by volume potential is just from the ingredients but a hydrometer is six bucks and you can know when it is done. Oh , see a hydrometer! What is your original specific gravity? I am starting an adventure with my capping wax tonight. I am soaking and will heat the wax up a little to get a must for a batch of mead. Getting late, I best go play. Keep me posted your your pear juice. A neighbor just told me to pick his pears! How do you know when they are ripe enough to pick? They are really starting to drop but are grass green and still tart.

Re: pear mead

vg, ours were green and tart also when they started falling off. we set them in the garage on newspaper, being careful not to let them touch each other. they got softer by the day.

i had already had some fermentation when i checked the sg, but it was 1.085.

i only had a couple of quarts of honey to use, but will be harvesting more today.

i did use the 71b and energizer, but there seems to be a lot of natural yeast in the pears, as they were fermenting vigorously to start with.

i like your idea about soaking the cappings. i think i will try that and use it to top with after the first racking, adding honey to get 1.085.

again, what i used were the peelings left over after canning. mashed them up in a bucket and let them get started good. then squeezed through a 5 gallon paint filter.

after reading up, i think i have already broken every rule in the book. like adding stuff after the fermentation has started. i am still adding new must from the last batches of pears to top off the carboys. it seems to act like a starter, (booster?).

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: pear mead

Be careful about adding too much honey to secondary or you may overwhelm the alcohol tolerance of the yeast and end up with a really sweet mead. That may be what you want but I prefer fermenting it dry, stabilizing it with sorbate and sulfites and then adding honey to sweeten to my taste. Maximizing alcohol content is often done at the expense of taste. There is always next year.

Re: pear mead

if it would have been for the pears dropped in my lap, i don't think i would have even tried this. i read about making mead on here back in the summer, and i chickened out after i found out how involved it was. especially after i discovered it might be a year before you know if you did it right.

i only have a little sugar and a little honey added so far to the 16 gallons of pear juice. it fermenting steadily right now, and hopefully it will clear in a few weeks and i can rack it.

there's only going to be a about a gallon of room in each of of the three carboys after racking. i'll dilute some honey to 1.085 and to top with. i actually prefer a semi-sweet wine over dry.

if it ends up tasting like crap, i will distill it once or twice to make rakia.

journaling the growth of a treatment free apiary started in 2010. 20+/- hives

Re: pear mead

Have patience with it I am told by the experts. My first batch was foul and powerful and I was about to abandon it when a brew shop owner tasted it and said give it another year and you will be amazed. It has had one year already and I guess the carboy helps hold down the basement floor by the water heater because it ain't anything I would give away or share yet. I have seven gallons of pears I need to make a space to spread out as you suggested. I have two batches of mead going now, here goes another 15 pounds of honey!